New Ducks!

As many of you know, I'm a musician as well as an urban farmer.  I was just in Portland this last weekend, and couldn't resist to plan a side trip to acquire a couple more female Australian Spotted ducks from a lady raising them near Oregon City, outside of Portland.

So, after a couple of days of intense late-night partying, teaching dance & calling square dances, and exhausted me dragged myself out of bed Sunday morning to drive out for my new ducks.  Husband woke up too and did the actual driving, and I'm so glad we made the little side trip because my new girls are BEAUTIFUL.  The lighting has been terrible to take pictures the last few days, but I'll get some up soon... but here's a good example of the two girls I brought home.  The new girls are a silverhead and a bluehead, which will add some nice diversity to my greenhead drake & duck that I got in the mail from the renowned Holderread's Waterfowl Farm.

To the left is a pic of a silverhead and the pic of the trio on the right shows a bluehead duck in the front left, and then a greenhead drake and duck in the back and right.

I'm looking forward to nesting season in a couple of months.  So far, the new girls are proving to be quite bossy to the demure pair from Holderread's, but I'm hoping that the drake will assert himself as the springtime rolls around.

Royal Caprines, the Family Lineage of Dairy Goats

So Maggie had her hot date yesterday with this fine fellow:

Meet Chenango-Hills Jester *B, *S

This handsome buck has it all, good looks, that stick-to-your-cloths buck smell, urine on the face, and a pedigree dating back several generations.  Oh, and that *S & *B shows that he's recognized by both the American Dairy Goat Association and American Goat Society to come from a dam (mother) who's proven through a controlled test of her milking ability that she exceeds the average milking ability for her breed.

In Jester's case, his mom, Chenengo-Hills Goddess scored 2nd in milking production and 1st in butterfat & protein.  That's quite an accomplishment for a little goat!  And, Jester's sire (father) is no slouch either - he's the son of GCH Rosasharn Haiku 4*D, who is the ADGA 2010 National Champion Senior Doe with the National Best Udder!  First of her breed to win this feat!  After setting up Jester's lineage of ancestors in my pedigree software, I couldn't believe that some of his lineage has been tracked back to goats born in 1980... and Nigerians are a young breed.  Toggenbergs are the oldest pedigree-tracked breed of goat, with ancient Switzerland herdbooks going back in to the 1600's.

I'm uber excited to have Maggie bred to this buck, as their kids should be of great dairy character, any does from this breeding should be great milkers, and it's just fun to be part of this great heritage of noble dairy goats, and contribute to the several generations of work by farmers who've spent decades improving this breed to bring more milk to the table.

Caprine Conjugal Visits.

When you get into dairy goats, you think about all the wonderful milk & other delicious products, cute baby goat kids, and all sorts of wholesome delights.  But, to get the ball rolling... it all starts with a lot of sordid goat sex.  For months, I've been tracking heat cycles, looking at pictures of buck goats and their balls on the internet, staring at goat vaginas determining heat cycles, sending in pregnancy tests, and basically getting very intimate with my hoofed companions.

One of my does, Tink, has already had her successful conjugal visit with this lovely fellow:

I timed the visit just right, and Tink was in a state known as "standing heat", meaning she was very receptive to her male companion.  After a fine display of tongue flashing, raspberry sounds, urinating, and other very bizarre and hilarious rituals, the actual mating was very quick.

I've got two more does to get pregnant... so wish me luck.  Maggie is going into heat today, and I'm calling the buck owner frantically now trying to arrange for her "hot date".

Updated Farm Website!

Hi Friends!  I've been thinking alot about this blog over the winter, ideas I want to share, information I've learned, etc.  2011 & 2012 proved to be busy years for me, and we made huge progress here at Lucky Charm Farm.  Check out our new website with an updated roster of urban ag projects that we have going!  www.luckycharmfarm.net and keep an eye out for more posts in 2013.

Happy new year!!